Massachusetts Fishing Report – July 21, 2016

Above: Nahant through Cape Ann might be the hottest right now for stripers.

Massachusetts South Shore Fishing Report

If only those darn bluefish would stay still! Scottie of Green Harbor Bait and Tackle in Marshfield said that big blues strike like thieves in the night, leaving drama and tattered remains in their destructive path. But just knowing those double-digit maulers are around is more than enough incentive for many to leave port. The power plant in Plymouth is always a high percentage bet, Race Point is loaded with bluefish potential, and then others are picking them up trolling gaudy deep-diving plugs just outside of Mackerel Rock through Minot’s Light. Scotty’s also heard of blues being picked up just east of the east end of the canal. Pogies are available in Duxbury, with water temperatures pushing beyond the stripers preferred comfort level, chunks are often more effective than an evasive live pogy. While not on a tear, tuna can be taken with trolled ballyhoo east of Stellwagen out to Wildcat Knoll, as well as by the “Golf Ball” by Truro.

Recent evenings have featured explosive bluefish action for fish up to 38 inches, according to Pete from Belsan Bait in Scituate. Trolling plugs has been most effective north of the 21 Can as well as near Cohasset Ledges. Minot has been swarming with schoolie stripers seemingly willing to hit anything. Anglers culling out larger are dropping live or chunk mackerel through the smaller fish. Angler’s tales of mackerel success often sound like two distinct realities with some catching and others griping. Doubtless, the whereabouts is tied to how recently an area has been ransacked by bluefish. If you’re looking to something that will turn the tables on bluefish, do what Eric Murray recently did, catch a 6’ mako in the Stellwagen area on live bait!

Winter flounder are still hanging in there, but fluke seem to be the bigger local flatfish news. Fluke are increasingly being found from the convergence of the North and South Rivers, The Spit, and even off Peggotty Beach. I’d be willing to wager that the Duxbury folks who are targeting them are doing really well.

Greater Boston

These are wacky times when your odds of catching black sea bass are arguably better than catching a striper in Boston Harbor. You’ll catch mostly shorts – regulations are 15” minimum with a 5 fish limit – but those fish are must plain fun! Catch a drift over humps, mussel beds, or other types of interesting structure in Hingham, Hull, Quincy and the inner harbor and odds are you’ll be working over a pile of black sea bass. Vertical jigging Spro Bucktails/Squidtails, Shimano Lucanus jigs, and Crippled Herrings should do the trick.

Lisa from Fore River told me that increasingly anglers are talking of fluke at undisclosed locations. Try the same effective drifts you employed for winter flounder except swap out the seaworms for chubs or Gulp swimming mullets. In the past fluke have been found by World’s End, the mouth of the Weymouth Back River, Hull, Wollaston Beach, Long Island, Revere Beach and through Lynn harbor and the marsh.

Anglers trolling tubes/worms throughout Quincy Bay are catching stripers up to 38”! Hot spots have been Jacknife Ledge, Veezie Rocks, Hangman Island, Sunken Ledge and Quarantine Rocks. An effective alternative is umbrella rigs; two of Boston’s most entrenched charter captains live by umbrella rigs and have been catching. Pogies were plentiful as recently as Wednesday in the anchorage section of the harbor but a foreboding presence suddenly appeared in the form of a “pogy boat” so I’m not sure how much of the school survived the onslaught. When I heard about it, I called the DMF on the seiner and was told that the boat was permitted to net them in this section of the harbor. It seems absurd that we now pay for a license and must sit idly by while a singular group wipes out what should be an equitably shared resource.

Captain Jason Colby is still hitting flounder, but he has to haul the Little Sister to the outer harbor to do it! The upside is he has been finding 16” pollock and 21” cod! If you’re finding the striper search frustrating, try dropping a jig/teaser among the ledges off Hull outside of Boston Light and upon irregular bottom out to the B Buoy. That jig/teaser attempt at a groundfish resulted in keeper halibut recently for Dan Herman who had Pete Santini set him up with the shop’s trademark jig/Pelican Green Teaser rig. The deeper water still remains your best chance at catching a cow as well. Find pogies and toss chunks into the wash by Roaring Bulls and Devils Back.

North Shore

Tomo of Tomo’s Tackle in Salem said that Nahant Bay has been one of the more reliable striper spots on the North Shore. Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnows have been making a killing there for fish from the mid-30s to the mid-40s! The best colors have been blue mackerel and most anything in the 3D finish and the magnum size is what the fish seem to want. Mackerel have been found off Misery Island and Bakers Island. Anglers trolling them between Children’s Island and Satan Rock have been catching mixed sizes of stripers. The shop has been moving a lot of “serpents” as the night crew patrols Manchester and Magnolia. Kayak anglers have been putting eels to good effect also in the Deer Island area from the Rip out to Faun Bar with outgoing tide fishing best.

Captain Tom Ciulla aboard the T Sea pulled out all the stops for the Voss family of Gloucester recently. The crew found stripers near Thatcher Island, inshore 8-pound cod and willing haddock of Tillies Basin. The dog pack is out in force so Tom sided with a Butterfly Jig combo with pink Gulp Swimming Mullet teasers for the groundfish.

Skip from Three Lantern Marine told me that blues blew big schools of mackerel inshore off Milk Island and Thatcher Island. Blues can be found on top with stripers below the schools of bait. Skip suggests that anglers load up on pogies which occasionally are in Gloucester Harbor but more often can be found in the Manchester/Magnolia area. Whether off Gloucester or Halibut Point, weigh a pogy chunk down to get it past the blues and to the stripers. Schoolies can be found tight to Good Harbor Beach.

Liz from Surfland said that the nighttime, ebbing tides should result in really good fishing especially those who prefer an eel on the line. The mouth of the Merrimack should be good as should Plum Island Sound and the Parker River. Sandy Point is a best bet as well. Chunk bait is first choice among the jetty casters and while little talk about winter flounder the salts who steadily pickup seaworms are obviously into fish. Best bets for blackbacks are outside of the Merrimack and off the ocean front.

Massachusetts Fishing Forecast

Big blues could be in your forecast if you troll by the Plymouth Power Plant or by Minot Light. Drift chubs or Gulp Mullets on an outgoing tide throughout the North and South Rivers for fluke. Another “southern species” worth a shot is black sea bass in Boston Harbor especially in the Hingham/Hull area. The North Shore just might be the best Bay State bet for a big bass with plugs doing the trick off Nahant and a chunk pogy working well off Halibut Point.